Talking Architecture (Revised Edition) is one of the latest additions in the series of Ramin Jahanbegloo's interviews of prominent intellectuals who have influenced modern Indian thought. Focusing on the life, work, and ideas of Raj Rewal, one of India's leading contemporary architects, the dialogue flows effortlessly from Rewal's descriptions of his early life and experiences in Europe to discussions encompassing the aesthetic foundations of Indian architecture as well as the role of architecture in the twenty-first century. This revised edition includes an extended conversation between Rewal and Jahanbegloo and also about 40 additional visuals.
Table of Contents
Innovation and Tradition: The Architecture of Raj Rewal
PART I: FROM HOSHIARPUR TO PARIS
A Temple within Self
Gandhi and the Partition
Discovering Architecture
Discovering Europe
Exploring Theatre
An Unusual Marriage
The Challenge of Le Corbusier
PART II: THINKING ARCHITECTURE
The Perennial and the Ephemeral
What is Secular Architecture?
City of Dreams
A Senseless Ugliness
Thinking Cities Today
The Input of Heritage
Builders or Architects?
PART III: RASA IN ARCHITECTURE
The Concept of Rasa
Civilized Art and Primitive Art
Celebrating Diversity
Does an Asian Architecture Exist?
PART IV: CLASH OR ASSIMILATION OF ARCHITECTURAL VALUES
Globalization and the Ethics of Architecture
An Indian Vision of the World
Dialogue among Cultures
The Spirit of Location
The Ethics of Architecture
The Game of Light
The Dialectic of Interior and Exterior
Spiritualizing
Architecture
Conceptualizing Islamic Architecture
Living Architecture
PART V: ICONIC FORMS AND SYMBOLS
Credits
Reviews and Awards
"'The coming together of a man who has written a lot and another who has built a lot produces an oddly satisfying book on architecture. Unlike other books on the subject, 'Talking Architecture' is shorn of the glib double-spread colour photography that reduces buildings to a dream like seduction-beautifully deceptive and devoid of the messy reality of Indian life. Instead, the book poses serious questions, the sort of questions government and civic authorities should have been asking of themselves. Why are our cities so despicably ugly and inhospitable? Is there an Indian architecture?'" - Gautam Bhatia, architect and artist
"'Raj Rewal's architecture evokes the structures of an earlier historical period, and this book-length interview captures the interface between the historical and the contemporary through many facets, such as the mathematical foundations of the constructions or the inter-leaving of courtyards and roof terraces, and such like, all of which provide an additional understanding of his strikingly impressive contemporary buildings.'" - Romila Thapar, pre-eminent Indian historian and Professor Emerita at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
"''Talking Architecture' is a lively conversation between a distinguished architect and a noted philosopher about serious issues which should be of interest to all who are concerned with the state of architecture and urban environment.'" - Divya Kush, president of Indian Institute of Architects